I am not a tolerant person. I hope I am never described as tolerant. "Tolerant" is a word used by the compassion-and-sensitivity crowd to describe anyone outside their clique who doesn't actually practice the hatred they are stereotypically assumed to possess.

By definition, a "tolerant" person tolerates other people. I have huge problems with this whole notion.

tol�er�ate (tl-rt)
tr.v. tol�er�at�ed, tol�er�at�ing, tol�er�ates
1. To allow without prohibiting or opposing; permit.

2. To recognize and respect (the rights, beliefs, or practices of others).

3. To put up with; endure.


None of those definitions fit me. I don't "tolerate" other human beings. Who am I to "allow" or "permit" them to have a particular set of beliefs or sexual preferences? Nor do I "put up with; endure" other human beings any more than they "put up with; endure" me.

The word implies a degree of personal judgmentalism and superiority I find quite foreign.

For me to be "tolerant" of others implies (1) I find them somehow morally inferior to me and (2) that I even care. Neither of these are true.

In short, I am not presumptious enough to be tolerant. Indeed, those who would describe me as "tolerant" are actually insulting me and demonstrating their own intolerance for beliefs contrary to their own. They might as well say, "My, you are open-minded for a Nazi."